Clinique's Autumn Beauty Picks

Like all bloggers and females of the Internet, I love Autumn and Winter; despite the fact it gets ridiculously cold and I have to wrap up in about 30 layers I have the chance to wear cute clothes and dark make up (and lots of it), I can decorate my house with fairy lights and festive decorations, and I am just a general lover of all things Christmas - I've already even bought some decorations. One thing not to be loved is the affect the cold weather has on my skin, I generally have slightly dehydrated normal skin throughout the year, but come winter and my nose and cheeks become flakey and dry and my makeup struggles to sit as well as it does through the warmer months, so I have to start paying a bit more attention to my skin.



One of my favourite discoveries of the past year is cleansing balms, they work amazing to remove makeup and leave the skin feeling nourished, hydrated and ready for the rest of my skincare - the perfect combination for autumn! I have been loving the Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm*, it's not the usual oil and gel textured balm that I'm used to; to be honest, it's almost like you're rubbing butter all over the skin, so it takes some getting used to. It still leaves the skin feeling so soft and lovely, but removes all makeup without any tugging around the eyes and a little of this goes a long way, so it doesn't leave any residue like a lot of cleansers can do. There's been a lot of hype around this cleanser, and I see why, especially since it's relatively affordable compared to others but gives the same results as it's high end counterparts.  For reference, the matching eye makeup remover is amazing also; I've had bad experiences with makeup removers with the half oil-half remover, they tend to leave my skin really dry and in the worst instance even flaking, but I've had no problems with this remover. It removes makeup in one sweep and has become a bit of an essential when I'm just wanting to curl up in bed.

Like I said, in the autumn my skin starts to become a lot more dry, so I need something nourishing for the day that will also leave my makeup looking good and staying in place. I've been loving the Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst*, whch is a gel based moisturiser that soaks in to the skin almost instinatly but leaves the skin feeling soft and hydrated. I've been loving this for the morning because of how quickly it soaks in and how hydrated and glowly it makes the skin look under makeup. I've always steered clear of gel based skincare but I'm slightly converted now and would recommend this to just about anyone. It's also fragrance free like all of their skincare which in my books is always a great thing - seriously, what is the point of fragrance in skincare?

As well as looking after my skin in the colder months a change in makeup starts to happen. There's more smokey eyes, thicker winged liner and even thicker lashes. It's also the season of giving, and House of Fraser have some awesome gifts from Clinique; the set I tried isn't available anymore, but there are similar ones here. I tried the Chubby Lash Fattening Mascara* which is awesome for length and a bit of volume, if you're a fan of plastic wands I imagine you'll love this! I personally prefer their High Impact Mascara, but that's because I'm more of a bristle brush kinda girl. The two current eye giftsets come with the same eye cream that was in my set which is a lovely formula, it soaks in quickly but has an almost silicone feel to the skin, it works great under makeup because it sinks in so quickly (for night time a thicker eye cream may be nicer if you have really dry skin).

What are your winter beauty essentials?

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